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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Cape May’s Ghosts and Legends, Part ll

Cape May is a peninsula town
located on the southernmost tip of New Jersey. In Part l I share sightings of
ghosts seen near Higbee Beach. The two stories below are part legend and part true
hauntings.

Beach at Cape May

The Pirate’s Treasure

A legend connected to the
Captain’s Quarters an inn in Cape May, now renamed The Inn on Ocean is that ithas a buried treasure on its property.

The Inn on Ocean

An unseen force protects this
inn. One witness to this phenomenon is a man whose family owned the inn for ten
years. He states this treasure, 40,000 British pounds is buried beneath where the
inn stands today.

A sea captain who
looted many British vessels was able to amass a small fortune. Returning home to Cape May
he gave his fortune to his mistress and told her to protect it. He then
returned to sea.

Tragically, his ship was lost
in a storm and when the captain did not return his mistress heart-broken committed
suicide by hanging. She took the secret of the location of the buried treasure
with her.

It is believed her ghost,
named Charlene, wanders the inn today still protecting this treasure.

The owners of the inn state
her ghost likes to make noise. Her footsteps are heard and she whispers a lot.
Charlene also likes to bang cabinets open and shut.

The inn’s attic is where she
often plays pranks. She likes to lock people in this room. When locksmiths
are called out and arrive she then unlocks the door.

People are warned to leave
the room immediately for Charlene locks the door again.

Higbee Beach and the Hound of Hell

In Part l of this post
witnesses state they have seen a ghostly man walking a large black dog along this
beach which is on Cape May’s bay side. Over the years these witness sightings
have been exaggerated.

Higbee Beach

A legend about Higbee is
about a Hound of Hell, which haunts
it. This dog is described as very large and black. When this hound is seen he
is sometimes accompanied by a dark figure dressed in a black cloak.

It is said both this figure and the dog have
fiery glowing red eyes. Witnesses’ state when they saw these two they also
smelled the distinct odor of sulfur--an odor often connected to evil.

This dog is said to carry a
curse--so people are warned this phantom hound brings bad luck and death.

Where this legend originated
no one knows but this type of hound is often associated with guarding a burial
ground. In this case, maybe a Native American burial ground.

This legend also states this hound
protects the souls of sailors lost at sea and even pirate’s buried treasure.